


See You Again

by wonderwheelzier



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, mentions of abusive home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22179811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderwheelzier/pseuds/wonderwheelzier
Summary: Six years after she ran away, Mike runs into Max in a Starbucks in New York City
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66





	See You Again

Mike just wanted a frappuccino and a new place to write. That was all he had planned for his Sunday. When he walked into a random, insignificant Starbucks one day in New York City, of all places, he wasn’t expecting to have his heart ripped out of his chest.

But there she was.

Her hair was still long. Mike thought she looked a bit taller, but he wasn’t really sure. Her arms were crossed as she stared pointedly at the menu even clearly having ordered, pointedly not looking at other people, and the familiarity of that simultaneously pained him and comforted him.

His chest started to feel like it was closing up when he realized he would have to walk past her to get to where his drink was sitting on the mobile order dock. And of course he  _ wanted  _ to talk to her, but would she want to talk to him? After all, she left for a reason, right? As the memories flooded into his mind, his heart began racing faster and faster. Just as he was considering turning around and heading to another coffeeshop, giving up on his drink entirely, he was met with a blue-green gaze. Blue-green like the ocean. That’s what he’d always thought, and sure enough her eyes on him knocked him down like the waves he was still unaccustomed to after five years living near the coast.

His heart froze as she looked away. He watched the realization dawn on her face, watched her do a double take. His instinct was to look away, but she had already caught him staring, and  _ god  _ he had missed her. He gave her a weak smile, awkwardly making his way over to her. “Max?” he asked.

“Mike?” Her voice shook. She wrapped her arms further around herself.

“Yeah.” He let out a shaky laugh. “Hi.”

Max shook her head and smiled, clearly just as caught off guard as Mike had been upon seeing her. “Hi.”

\---

It had been years since Mike had seen her. Six years, to be exact. They were seventeen when Max had run away, only telling Lucas and leaving it up to him to explain to the others that she wasn’t coming back. Mike had frozen at the news, only moving to put his arm around El as tears rolled down her cheeks. He remembered rubbing her shoulder as she worked through her confusion and indignation and anger and heartbreak. He remembered because she was expressing everything he was feeling but wouldn’t show. More than anything, he felt hurt.

That hurt sank deep in his chest as he lay in bed that night, playing over the feeling of her under his fingertips, the sound of her laugh, of her voice. Now and then he thought he could still smell a hint of her shampoo lingering on his sheets. She’d been there in his room just the night before; now, gone. Just like that.

Mike should’ve known. He knew she was acting weird.

The two had been spending a lot of time together, just the two of them. Mike refused to tell anyone, but he really liked it. He really liked Max. He liked how they always had something to talk about, how passionate she was, even if they were disagreeing. He liked the way her hand felt in his. He liked the way her shoulder brushed against his as they watched movies side by side on his bed. He liked the way she was so much better than he was at catching popcorn in her mouth, loved the way she flaunted it. He liked her smile. Mostly, he really liked the way she made him feel. He never would’ve expected it, but he was falling hard for her.

They were hanging out in his room, like they usually did. One minute they were goofing off, Max laughing and tossing her hair around. Mike couldn’t even remember now what they’d been laughing about, but he remembered the way the smile had slowly fallen off her face as her eyes fell over him. Mike blushed under the attention, but he didn’t shy away from it. He remembered how she took his hand. It wasn’t completely out of character for her, but it was still a rare occurrence for Max to get sentimental. It had been happening more and more recently; she never went into too much detail, but Mike knew things were getting worse for her at home. There had been a few times recently where she had come over and didn’t say anything, just laid her head in his lap. He ran his fingers through her hair as she clung to him, staring off at nothing. Mike knew to be gentle with her, knew to be patient. He knew to let her come to him.

But something felt different that night. Max was looking right at him, and Mike had never felt so seen. He desperately searched her eyes, but he couldn’t figure out what was up other than that she was serious about whatever she was about to say. After a moment of heavy, anticipatory silence, she said, “You know I love you, right?”

Mike’s breath caught. She’d never told him she loved him so seriously. Now and then between giggles while shaking her head, but never like this, never while holding his hand the way she was. “Of course,” Mike said softly. “I love you, too.”

Max let out a small, unconvincing laugh, looked away before looking back. She looked scared. Mike would never forget that look.

Then suddenly she was in his arms, her arms wrapped around his waist and face tucked into his neck. It took him a second to catch up, but as soon as he did he held her close, stroked her hair. She didn’t cry, didn’t say anything, and neither did he. Eventually she pulled back. Mike tired not to gasp as she cupped his cheek. His heart raced at how close her face was to his. Her breath warm on his lips. Her eyes on him, conflicted and unmistakably sad. “I have to go,” she whispered, her voice close to breaking.

_ No you don’t, _ he wanted to say.  _ You can stay, as long as you need. Please stay _ .

But he had let her go. She brushed her lips against his, a kiss so light he wasn’t even sure it happened as she slipped off his bed. She held his hand for another beat as she stood, leaving him sitting there, too stunned to do anything. He didn’t realize quite what her watery, “Bye, Mike,” meant. He just watched her leave. Had the audacity to smile after her. Looking back, he couldn’t believe the naive way he had brushed his fingers over his lips, thinking there would be more tomorrow, maybe the next day.

He couldn’t believe he’d let her leave.

\---

Now, six years later, she was right there, once again in arms reach. Mike could pull her in if he wanted to, could touch her hand, could feel her lips on his. But he knew better than that, knew to keep to himself. If she was anything like the Max he’d known, she would want to come to him, on her own terms.

“Oh my god, this is so weird,” Max laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I mean I knew you were living in New York, it’s just such a big city, I never thought-”

“You knew I was in New York?” he asked, his surprise forcing the words out of his mouth, leaving him scrambling to collect them as though he’d spilled marbles all over the floor. He wanted to take them back even more when the smile dropped from Max’s face. She straightened up.

“Uh, yeah, Lucas told me.”

Hurt pierced through Mike’s chest. He smiled weakly through it. “Oh, I didn’t know you guys kept in touch.”

“Yeah, I asked him not to tell the rest of you guys,” she explained awkwardly, her face wincing apologetically. Mike nodded, looked at his shoes before his eyes inevitably landed on her face again. God, she looked so different, yet just as he imagined she would. She opened her mouth to say something, but just as she did the barista called her name out. As she picked up her drink, Mike made his way around her and found his drink. He heard a familiar scoff from behind him. “Wow, I am so not surprised that you have the mobile app.”

Warmth flooded through him, making his heart lift, albeit shakily. He’d missed that teasing tone, that unimpressed smirk he found on her face. “It’s faster,” he said defensively. “And I’m not always in the mood to talk to people.”

“So I take it you’re still way too into Panic! At The Disco then?” she grinned. Mike rolled his eyes, but a smile made its way onto his face. They stood there another moment, neither of them quite sure where this left them, where to go from here. It was Max who spoke first: “Hey, I know you’re probably busy, but would you wanna drink these together? Catch up?”

Mike thought about the chapter he had due to his publisher next week.

Fuck it, he had time.

“I’d love that.” 

And yeah, that smile was definitely worth the sleep he would lose that night catching up on work. He would cling to the feeling of her taking his hand to lead him to an open table for the rest of the day, until he could feel it again.

This time he was making sure there was a next time.


End file.
